I just want to preface this by saying I’m not a lawyer or visa expert. This is just my experience.
I lived in Nigeria most of my life and I wanted to relocate to the UK through a route that allowed me to bring my kids along. And didn’t require me to go to school. The Global Talent Route seemed to be the best because I don’t need an employer or proof of funds. I just needed to show the workings of my talent.
There’s the Exceptional talent route and Exceptional promise. I chose the exceptional promise because I don’t have major awards, yet, and I didn’t want to take any chances of being rejected.
I’ve been a writer for ten years now. My very first short story was published on Brittlepaper in 2016. And since then I’ve been writing and racking up publications, reviews, and nominations for awards. I’ve also been involved in the Nigerian publishing industry one way or another.
The procedure to get the Global Talent Visa for writing is divided into two parts.
For the First, I needed to get an Endorsement From Arts Council England. And then apply for the visa.
The endorsement Payment is split in two. About 80% of the price paid before endorsement and the rest paid after the endorsement. The money is non refundable.
(not inputing any amount cause the price may have changed. Please check the UK immigration website while applying for the current price.)
To apply,
I needed to send
• supporting documents that showed evidence of what I’ve been up to as a writer
• A CV
• And three letters of recommendations
The supporting documents had to be TEN and split into
• Media Recognition – at least two
• International Awards
• Proof of Appearance
All evidences can’t be more than five years old by the way.
Media Recognition
For my media recognition, I chose to send reviews of my books in widely recognised literary spaces, like Kirkus Review (you can’t use social media or blogs)
For International Awards, I have been nominated twice for the Nommo awards, as well as a few others, so I added these
For Proof of Appearance, I had only one. And that was my appearance at Ake festival as a guest. I spoke on a speculative fiction panel
CV
My CV was pretty simple. It highlighted all I’ve achieved as a writer and my involvement in the literary community like my Mentorship Program.
Letters of Recommendation
One of the letters of recommendation had to be from a UK organisation. The second had to be from any international literary organisation. The third had to be from any literary organisation or person who is well respected in the writing field.
I put together everything and submitted. On the website, three weeks is the usual time for a response, although it may take longer. Mine took two months because they were dealing with a lot of submissions.
I got the endorsement letter and applied for my Visa soon after. I got my visa about a week after applying. My kids as well.
I started my application in August 2025, and in February 2026, I moved to Northumberland.
If you’re thinking of applying, it can seem daunting, but it’s pretty straightforward. And you don’t need any fancy app or tool to do it. Each evidence was in an A4 document with screenshots and pictures and links. Pretty simple.
So far I’ve published one book since I’ve been here and in the process of publishing another. I’m also currently in the querying trenches and hope to share some good news soon.
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